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Forever Knight Wiki:Guideline/Biographical information
These are the Biographical Information Guidelines. They describe how the Forever Knight Wiki treats the biographical information that appears on author pages, especially with respect to a fan fiction author's privacy. Use the following information as a guide to creating or editing author pages. For an alphabetic list of Guidelines, see the Guidelines Category. Biographical Guidelines Related to Privacy and Personal Information about Authors Author pages are, in essence, limited biographies focusing on a person's life with respect to Forever Knight. Because this wiki represents an encyclopedia of information and not a tabloid paper, however, extreme sensitivity must be given to a person's privacy. As such, the Forever Knight Privacy Policy has been developed. Please remember to read that policy first, before creating any author page at this wiki. Eliminate Personal Contact Information Per our privacy policy, at no time should a person's private contact information appear at this wiki. This includes an author's street address or email address, or their telephone numbers. The only contact information that should appear on an author's page should be a link to their personal website if they have one. Author contact information has no place at this wiki. Include Biographical Information Related to Forever Knight Because this wiki concentrates on Forever Knight fandom, biographies of authors should focus on the author's specific involvement with the television show. While other typical bits of biographical information may be interesting, for the purposes of this wiki, the majority of that information holds little interest to our readers or is simply inappropriate for privacy reasons. While we accept that there may be exceptions to this general guideline, the focus of the biography should always be geared toward an understanding of the author's involvement with the fandom of Forever Knight. In particular, identifying information about the author's immediate family should be avoided. Personal, biographical information relevant to Forever Knight may be extremely difficult to obtain without direct contact with an author. As such, proof of such contact may be nearly impossible to verify. We caution against detailed motivations about an author's involvement with the Forever Knight fan base unless that information has already been published somewhere online and can be directly linked via a reference link in the article. For those authors of fan fiction who also edit at this wiki and wish to provide this information directly, we recommend each author post such statements on their user page talk page as a method of discussing themselves. These talk page references can then be directly linked to an author's article page. Include Pen Names and Create Pages as Appropriate for Those Names While some authors post stories under their own names, there are many others who prefer to use pen names. There should only ever be one author page created for any author, even if they have created fiction using several different names. When creating an author page, be sure to name it correctly: *If an author posts stories under their real name, use this as the title of the author page. *If an author posts stories using both their real name and a pen name, use the real name as the name of the page and create a page for the pen name that redirects to the real name. *If an author only uses a pen name, use the pen name as the page name. In accordance with our privacy policy, the article should not include the real name of an author who only uses a pen name, even if you know it. Include a List of Forever Knight Fan Writing Include a list of all the author's Forever Knight fan writing by title. Use the order that makes it easiest for readers to understand what was written when and the best order in which to approach it. One of the easiest types of lists includes all fiction listed by title in the chronological order it was written (or posted online). Keep in mind, however, that there may be instances when chronological order needs to be varied. For example, the stories included in a series may best be grouped together so readers know the proper order in which they should be read. For authors who have written essays on Forever Knight, it would be helpful if you are able to list fiction separately from non-fiction. Also, consider the following helpful additions to any fiction list: * A warning or rating level for each story helps readers judge the suitability of the story to their reading needs. As a general rule, the Forever Knight Wiki uses the same ratings that the Motion Picture Association of America uses. * The titles of stories should be turned into links by putting two square brackets in front, and two after. When the author page is saved, the title with the brackets will be turned into an active link if a page already exists for the story (typically blue in color) or an inactive link if the page still has to be created (typically red in color). General Writing Guidelines In addition to the personal information about an author that may be included in an article, the following general guidelines relate to the author pages. Maintain an Objective Tone Throughout the Article Objectivity is the hallmark of a biographical article written for an encyclopedia entry. This is especially true at the FK Wiki. On any author's page, references to the author should be in the third person ("she"/"he"), even if they themselves make an edit. We prefer that fan writers do not write their own Author page, though it is perfectly all right to edit for typos or add to the list of stories. We understand, however, that the fan base for the show is small and the same authors may be the best people to edit their own information at the wiki. It is vital that all authors remember that THIS IS A WIKI WRITTEN BY A COMMUNITY. Your work may be edited and revised by others, especially if they feel the tone is inappropriate. If you find that an Author page contains information that directly violates an objective point of view or that strongly contradicts the policies of the Forever Knight Wiki, then—as with any other wiki—the best place to discuss issues that you have with the article is on its own talk page (click on the "Discussion" button at the top right side of the page); in that way, consensus can be obtained on how to correct the problems. Mention Other Fandoms Only Briefly There may be times when information about an author's other fandoms may be appropriate. However, please remember that this is primarily a Forever Knight wiki. Certainly, similarities of theme and motif might be commented on. It may be especially useful for readers to know that activity in one fandom specifically led to activity in another. Lists of fiction written in other fandoms are inappropriate for author pages unless they specifically include Forever Knight as part of a crossover-based piece of fiction. A mention of the other fandom is enough. Include the Category for the Author's Work Be sure the author's page is included in the Authors Category. You can do this by editing the page and including the category link (usually as the last line on the page). This link won't appear in the actual article, but acts as a code in the system to signal that the author's page should be included in the alphabetic list of authors. The category code looks like this: ''the author's last name'' For example, author Susan M. Garrett would have the following category as the last line on her author's page: Garrett If an author only uses a pen name, use that instead of the author's last name. Putting the author's name at the end after the pipe (|) will ensure that that name appears in the category listing in alphabetic order by their surname (if they are not using a one-word pen name).